Shielded electrical connector



2 Sheets-Sheet l wmmmwm T. E DANEELS ETAL SHIELDED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR w ll March 2, 1965 Filed Sept. 18, 1962 INVENTORS. fl /10050.! 1 BAA/162.! B MAW F. INC/(4? Ari-m March 2, 1965 T. E. DANIELS ETAL 3,171,706

SHIELDED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed Sept. 18, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,171,706 SHIELDED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Thaddeus E. Daniels and John R. Hacker, Indianapolis,

Ind., msignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Sept. 18, 1962, Ser. No. 224,576 1 Claim. (Cl. 339143) (Granted under Title 35, 11.8. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or there-for.

The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly and more particularly to a connector assembly that will prevent the dissipation of radiant energy through connector sockets and pins.

The amount of energy being radiated by electronic equipment, such as radar and rad-i0 gear, has become so great that arm-ing devices in military equipment can be inadvertently energized thus causing a dangerous situation. For example, radiant energy that might be absorbed and retained by an electrical unit could be dissipated through the connector pins of a bomb arming unit and thus prematurely'arm a bomb or other weapon.

In the present invention, a tubular skirt is provided around a plug shell and this tubular skirt is provided with a plurality of resilient fingers that contact the inside bore of a receptacle shell when the plug shell is telescoped into the receptacle shell. Any radiant energy picked up by a plug shell will thus be shunted through a receptacle shell rather than through the connector pins.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector assembly that has means for dissipating radiant energy upon connection of the connector shells.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a resilient skirt on a connector plug shell whereby said connector plug shell m akes electrical contact with a connector receptacle shell prior to the contacting of the pins and sockets of said shells.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying dnawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side view showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a side view of a spring skirt;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the spring skirt shown in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view s-imliar to FIGURE 2 of the dnawing only showing another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a side view of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 7 of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIG- URES 1-3 a connector assembly comprised of a first housing 11 commonly called a receptacle and a second housing 12 commonly called a plug which are held together by coupling ring 13 that threadedly engages with threads 14 on receptacle 11. A back shell 15 is also shown for purpose of illustration, the function of back shell 15 being to facilitate the fastening of the plug to an electrical cable.

As shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings, receptacle 11 3,171,706 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 is provided with a front socket insert 16 and a rear socket insert 17 that together retain socket contacts 18 within receptacle 11. Likewise, plug 12 is provided with a front pin insert 21 and a rear pin insert 22 that together retain pin contacts 23. When plug 12 is telescoped into receptacle 11, pin contacts 23 telescope into and make ele'ctrioal contact with socket contacts 18. It should be understood, of course, as it is well known in the art, that the socket contacts might be provided in either the receptacle or the plug and likewise the pin contacts might be pro vided in either the plug or the receptacle. For safety reasons, it is common practice to provide the socket contacts on the unit that is supplying power as there is less likelihood of personnel accidentally obtaining an electrical shock.

A tubular metallic skirt 24 is secured, as by riveting or welding, to the plug shell 25 of plug 12 and substantially surrounds the portion of the plug shell 25 that engages with the receptacle shell 26 of receptacle 11. As shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings, a plurality of longitudinal kerfs 27 are provided in the tubular skirt 24 thereby providing a plurality of resilient fingers 28 in cantilever fashion. For purposes of illustration, eight kerfs are shown thereby providing eight resilient fingers. Each finger is provided with a curved end portion which forms a protrusion 29 that extends beyond the diameter of the skirt 24. As best shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings, the end of plug shell 25 is provided with a relief 31 that permits the protrusions 29 of fingers 28 to compress thus permit-ting the assembling of the plug shell 25 within the receptacle shell 26. As can be seen by reference to FIG- URE 4 of the drawings, one kerf 27 in the tubular skirt 24 is aligned with the keyway 32 in the plug shell 25 so that key 33 in the receptacle shell 26 can engage the keyw-ay 32 Referring again to FIGURE 3 of the drawings, it can be seen that the front socket insert 16 occupies only about one-fourth of the length of the receptacle while the front pin insert 21 occupies about three-fourths of the length of the plug shell 25. In operation then, when plug shell 25 is first mated or engaged with receptacle shell 26, the protrusions 29 on resilient fingers 28 engage the inside bore of the receptacle shell 26 and thus provide an electrical connection between shells 25 and 26. Pin contacts 23 have not, as yet, engaged socket contacts 28 and any radiated energy that might have been picked up by the unit to which plug shell 25 is attached will be dissipated through receptacle shell 26 rather than through socket contacts 18 which could cause a dangerous situation, such as detonating an ordnance item.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 of the drawings. Plug shell 41 is provided with a reduced diameter portion 42 and a tubular skirt 43 is secured, as by welding, soldering, or riveting to the reduced diameter portion 42. Tubular skirt 43 is similar to tubular skirt 24, though somewhat shorter in length proportionally to the length of plug shell 41. A plurality of kerfs 44 are provided in tubular skirt 43 thereby forming a plurality of resilient fingers 45. Each finger is provided with a curved end portion which forms a protrusion 46 that extends beyond the diameter of the skirt 43. One kerf 44 is aligned with keyway 47 which is provided in plug shell 41. A coupling ring 49 secures shells 41 and 48 together after they are connected.

In operation, when p-l-ug shell 41 is inserted into receptacle shell 48, the protrusions 46 on resilient fingers 45 engage the inside bore of receptacle shell 48 and thus provide an electrical connection between shells 41 and 48, before pin contacts 23 engage socket contacts 18. Thus any energy retained by plug shell 41 will be dissipated through shell 48 rather than through socket contacts 18.

It can thus be seen that the present invention provides 3 4 i an improved connector assembly that will dissipate radiber, said tubular metallic skirt having a plurality of ated energy through the connector shells rather than longitudinally extending kerfs at the end opposite through the connector sockets or pins and thus provide a the'end attached to said second tubular housing memsafety device for those electrical and electronic items that her thereby forming a plurality of resilient fingers, are being subjected to large quantities of radiated energy. 5 each said finger having a curved end portion engage- Obviously many modifications and variations of the able with said inner periphery of said first tubular present invention are possible in the light .of the above housing member to make electrical connection there- 'teachin-gs. It is therefore to be understood, that within the With whereby said tubular metallic skirt is en gagable scope of the appended claim, the invention may be prac- With said inner periphery prior to the engagement of ticed otherwise than as specificallydescri'bed. v said contact element with said mating contact ele- What is claimed is: m nt, and said second tubular housing member being An electrical connector comprising: provided with a relief portion for receiving said first and second telescoping tubular housing members curved end portion, and

of metallic material, means connected to said second tubular housing memat least one contact element in said first tubular housing bet for locking said first and second tubular housing i member having a length of less than one-half the members together.

length of said first tubular housing member, and at least one rum-ting contact element in said second tubu- References Cited y the Examine! lar housing member having a length substantially UNITED STATES PATENTS equal to the length of said'second tubular housing member, said at least one Contact element and said g 33 at least one mating contact element being electrically arsons 9' 91 insulated from said first and second tubular housing 3089 J16 5/63 339'482 members, respectively, 7 g g a tubular metallic skirt having one end attached to the JOSEPH Pilmmy Exam-mgr outer periphery of said second tubular housing meme ALBERT KAMPE, m n r- 

